Iowa teen charged with murdering both parents

CLINTON, Iowa — An Iowa teen has been charged in the slayings of his parents, whose bodies were found Tuesday in their rural home.

According to the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, Gavin Glasz, 18, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his parents, Michelle and Brian Glasz.

Authorities were called for a welfare check to the Glasz home Tuesday morning in DeWitt, Iowa, — a town of 5,300 near the Illinois border — because the couple weren’t answering their phones. After entering the home, deputies found Brian Glasz’s body in the laundry room, wrapped in a blanket with the appearance of having his throat cut, according to the arrest affidavit. 

Michelle Glasz’s body was found in the basement, laying face down.

According to court records, bloody items were found in the kitchen sink, washing machine and other areas of the family’s home.  The affidavit states that “it appears attempts were made to clean up the blood.”

The Iowa State Medical Examiner Office conducted autopsies and determined the deaths were homicides, listing the cause of death for Brian Glasz as strangulation, multiple sharp force injuries and blunt force trauma to the head. Michelle Glasz’s cause of death was determined to be strangulation and multiple sharp force injuries.

The affidavit filed Friday morning notes that Gavin Glasz was seen on surveillance tape, taken from a property just north of the home, leaving and returning to the home several times Tuesday morning. The affidavit states that in the video Gavin Glasz had dark-colored stains on his light-colored sweatpants.

Gavin Glasz was arrested later Tuesday on an unrelated operating-while-intoxicated warrant. He was searched and had more than $800 in cash in his pockets, “which appeared to have blood on it,” the court records state.

A friend of Gavin Glasz, who was not named in the affidavit, was interviewed by police and stated that Gavin had made a comment stating that “my mom and dad need to be with my grandpa… off this earth.” The friend also noted Gavin Glasz was making comments about stabbing people.

During the execution of a search warrant at the house, officers discovered sweatpants with blood on them and white Nike shoes similar to the ones Glasz appeared to wearing in the surveillance tape. They also discovered a bloody partial shoe tread pattern matching the Nike shoes discovered in the search.

Glasz is currently being held in the Clinton County, Iowa, Jail on $1 million cash bond related to the two murder charges.

Bielema edits and Moffitt writes for the Clinton, Iowa, Herald. 

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